A Silver Cartouche
by Ali Ami Umi
Summary: The story of how Alison acquired the best and worst thing she would ever own. OC based, AU


A Silver Cartouche

While most 5th-grade-about-to-enter-6th-graders were obsessed about finding the right clothes for middle school, Bella Sarah, and skinny jeans, Alison was obsessed with Egypt, Mythology, and Duel Monsters.

While those other girls could probably tell you all about how to apply make up and straighten your hair, Alison could list of the Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, including their family relationship and what they're control was over.

Which is why instead of moaning and groaning about going to the London Natural History Museum during a family trip, Alison was the first one ready and kept bouncing up and down in excitement while everyone else slowly but surely woke up.

Finally, when she was given free reign, the eleven year old dashed through the crowds and headed straight for the Egypt exhibit.

"Wow…" She whispered to herself as she took it all in. Everyone was crowded around the case containing the Rosetta Stone, which left the rest of the gallery fairly empty. Alison wandered about the edge of the room, eyes sparkling while looking at all the ancient remnants of the great civilization.

One thing that caught her eye especially was a gold box sitting on a pillar. Covered in hieroglyphs, there was one spot carved out that looked like it was meant to hold something.

_A cartouche?_ Alison wondered, standing on her tip toes to get a closer look at it. It certainly looked like it. But she wondered where the cartouche that fit into the small hole had gone.

After spending one more minute to ponder on it, she eventually kept moving on through the exhibit, practically bouncing on her toes when she managed to get through the crowd and look at the Rosetta Stone up close and personally.

"Well that was fun, don't you think?"

Alison's legs were hurting from walking around so much, she was hungry, and she was tired, but she was one of the happiest girls on the planet at that moment.

"I loved it! Especially the Egypt part. There was so much stuff! And the mummies there were really well preserved. I wish we could go back."

A head of her, something silver fell off of the woman walking in front of them. Alison ran to pick it up, then ran to the lady.

"Excuse me miss, you dropped this." She said holding, what she could now see was, a cartouche out to the woman.

The lady was wearing a simple white gown and wore many necklaces, bracelets, and rings. Alison was surprised that the delicate looking woman wasn't weighed down from the hundreds of gold and silver chains resting against the carmel colored skin of her neck.

"What a kind little girl. Thank you." The woman smiled, crouching down and taking the cartouche back. Her smile was sincere, and she looked straight into Alison's brown eyes with her own vivid green ones. After looking at the eleven year old for a moment, then looking back at the cartouche, she held it back out to her. "Here, you should keep it. It will serve you well."

"Really?" Alison said, surprised at the unexpected gift. The lady stood up and slipped the long chain over Alison's head.

"It's yours, it always has been. Just be careful, this one might be a handful."

Alison looked puzzled over the woman's statement when she started walking away.

"Thank you!" Alison called out. The mysterious woman gave a casual wave without turning around before disappearing into the crowd.

Later that night, Alison would sit in her room in the little flat her family had rented and run her thumb over the hieroglyphs carved into the small piece of silver. She would pull out her mom's laptop and look up how to read the Egyptian hieroglyphs. After she found a good sheet example, she would spend all of ten seconds looking between the cartouche and online examples before finally saying "Atem?"

Multiple things happened at once. A purple and black mist spread around the room, and a searing pain hit in the right side of her chest. The last thing Alison would recall before her memory would blank was the voice of someone who had clearly gone over the deep end laughing before saying "I want to play a game."


End file.
